The present invention relates to a wall partition system, and more particularly to a rigid wall partition system which is vertically upwardly movable into storage position and vertically downwardly movable to form a wall.
Movable wall partition systems have many applications, particularly to divide areas of a building and form smaller areas out of larger ones. Convention halls and large rooms in hotels, school gymnasiums and work areas in factories are only a few types of interior building spaces in respect of which movable partition walls are often used to divide them into smaller spaces.
Such walls may be formed merely from fabric or other like material, and take the form of curtains which may be drawn or withdrawn. Other, more durable types of movable wall partitions are made of rigid material, extending from floor to ceiling and having heat and/or sound insulating materials between a rigid wall-forming exterior. Presently, known wall partition systems of the rigid-type conventionally move horizontally. These types of movable walls usually require storage space (in plan) to accommodate the wall panels when not in use. The wall panels may be very heavy and hence the loads imposed on the support structure (ceiling of the room, roof of the building, etc.) are not constant as the panels are moved and increase as the wall panels are tracked towards their storage positions.
Such horizontally movable rigid walls are presently available in three basic types:
(1) individual panels, PA1 (2) paired panels (two hinged together), and PA1 (3) continuously hinged panels (all hinged together).
Individual panels can be put in place one at a time, either manually or mechanically. Paired panels must be put in place manually. Continuously hinged panels can be put in place either manually or individually. Individual panels have no hinges as they are not joined together and must be moved one at a time, for example on rails embedded in the ceiling or roof of the space in which they operate. Paired panels and continuously hinged panels have exposed hinges which may be unsightly and limit the applications to which they may be applied.
Other drawbacks associated with movable wall partitions which move horizontally on tracks or rails attached to the underside of the ceiling or roof structure of the given space include: (a) the finished wall size is restricted as the component panels are limited as to their weight and size, (b) most of the larger walls must be manually operated since friction and weight prevent automation, (c) they require significant storage space (in plan), thereby adding to building costs, (d) the wall panels tend to jam between ceiling and the floor due to roof deflection caused by snow or rain loading, etc., and (e) they cannot be readily modified to meet specific customer requirements (i.e. voids, openings, etc.).
One type of track-carried horizontally movable wall partition system of background interest to the present invention is an accordion door system offered by Moderco Partitions Inc., in which a multiple pantograph construction is suspended from rollers on tracks in the ceiling and alternative vertically oriented panels of flexible material are secured to spaced portions of the pantograph structure so that, as the pantograph is expanded laterally, the partition closes providing a finished corrugated-like appearance.
The pantograph structure suggested in that construction of accordion doors is similar to that for instance found in baby gates, in which a series of beams are pivotally linked together in spaced fashion to provide a series of similar diamonds along the length of the frame. In a single (as opposed to multiple) pantograph construction, a pair of beams of similar size are pivotally linked at their midpoints. Their ends on one end are pivotally linked to the ends of a corresponding pair of beams of similar length, similarly pivoted at their midpoint, and so on. The midpoints of the beams are aligned and form opposed corners of diamond shapes, the other opposed corners of which are formed by the pivotally secured ends of adjacent pairs of intersecting beams. The pantograph structure expands longitudinally, in a direction parallel to the axis formed by the aligned intersection points of the beams, and contracts in a similar fashion. The pantograph structure, in engineering applications, is useful because it causes forces applied longitudinally, in the direction of expansion and contraction of the structure, to be transmitted evenly throughout all of the beams of the structure. As well, all of the apexes of the diamonds formed by the points of intersection of the beams, as the structure is contracted, will arrive at their final, fully contracted position at the same time, meaning that the apexes of diamonds at the outer end, which are moving towards the other end during contraction, will move at a much greater speed than the apexes of the diamonds at the inner end.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a movable rigid wall partition system which avoids many of the problems found with previously known horizontal movable rigid wall partition system. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel construction of vertically movable rigid wall partition system.